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WASHINGTON: Twitter Inc has agreed to pay $150 million to settle allegations it misused personal info, like cellphone numbers, to focus on promoting after telling customers the data could be used for safety causes, in response to courtroom paperwork filed on Wednesday.
Twitter’s settlement covers allegations that it misrepresented the “safety and privateness” of consumer knowledge between Might 2013 and September 2019, in response to the courtroom paperwork.
The corporate pays $150 million as a part of the settlement introduced by the Justice Division and the Federal Commerce Fee (FTC). Along with the financial settlement, the settlement requires Twitter to enhance its compliance practices.
The criticism mentioned that the misrepresentations violated the FTC Act and a 2011 settlement with the company.
“Particularly, whereas Twitter represented to customers that it collected their phone numbers and e-mail addresses to safe their accounts, Twitter did not disclose that it additionally used consumer contact info to help advertisers in reaching their most well-liked audiences,” the criticism mentioned.
Twitter’s chief privateness officer, Damien Kieran, mentioned in an announcement that with the settlement “we have now aligned with the company on operational updates and program enhancements” to guard consumer privateness and safety.
Twitter is a free service that makes cash primarily by means of promoting. Billionaire Elon Musk, who’s shopping for the service for $44 billion, has criticized its ads-driven enterprise mannequin and pledged to diversify its income sources.
“If Twitter was not truthful right here, what else is just not true? That is very regarding information,” Musk mentioned in a tweet late on Wednesday, commenting on the social media firm’s advert practices and the high-quality.
U.S. officers identified that of the $3.4 billion in income that Twitter earned in 2019, about $3 billion was from promoting.
The corporate made $5 billion in income for 2021. It mentioned in a submitting earlier this month that it had put apart $150 million after agreeing “in precept” upon a penalty with the FTC.
“Twitter obtained knowledge from customers on the pretext of harnessing it for safety functions however then ended up additionally utilizing the information to focus on customers with advertisements,” mentioned FTC Chair Lina Khan in an announcement. “This follow affected greater than 140 million Twitter customers, whereas boosting Twitter’s main income.”
The criticism additionally alleges that Twitter falsely mentioned it complied with the European Union-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privateness Defend Frameworks, which bar firms from utilizing knowledge in ways in which customers don’t authorize.
Twitter’s settlement follows years of fallout over the privateness practices of tech firms.
Revelations in 2018 that Fb, the world’s largest social community, was utilizing cellphone numbers supplied for two-factor authentication to serve advertisements enraged privateness advocates.
Fb, now known as Meta, equally settled with the FTC over the difficulty as a part of a $5 billion settlement reached in 2019.
Twitter’s settlement covers allegations that it misrepresented the “safety and privateness” of consumer knowledge between Might 2013 and September 2019, in response to the courtroom paperwork.
The corporate pays $150 million as a part of the settlement introduced by the Justice Division and the Federal Commerce Fee (FTC). Along with the financial settlement, the settlement requires Twitter to enhance its compliance practices.
The criticism mentioned that the misrepresentations violated the FTC Act and a 2011 settlement with the company.
“Particularly, whereas Twitter represented to customers that it collected their phone numbers and e-mail addresses to safe their accounts, Twitter did not disclose that it additionally used consumer contact info to help advertisers in reaching their most well-liked audiences,” the criticism mentioned.
Twitter’s chief privateness officer, Damien Kieran, mentioned in an announcement that with the settlement “we have now aligned with the company on operational updates and program enhancements” to guard consumer privateness and safety.
Twitter is a free service that makes cash primarily by means of promoting. Billionaire Elon Musk, who’s shopping for the service for $44 billion, has criticized its ads-driven enterprise mannequin and pledged to diversify its income sources.
“If Twitter was not truthful right here, what else is just not true? That is very regarding information,” Musk mentioned in a tweet late on Wednesday, commenting on the social media firm’s advert practices and the high-quality.
U.S. officers identified that of the $3.4 billion in income that Twitter earned in 2019, about $3 billion was from promoting.
The corporate made $5 billion in income for 2021. It mentioned in a submitting earlier this month that it had put apart $150 million after agreeing “in precept” upon a penalty with the FTC.
“Twitter obtained knowledge from customers on the pretext of harnessing it for safety functions however then ended up additionally utilizing the information to focus on customers with advertisements,” mentioned FTC Chair Lina Khan in an announcement. “This follow affected greater than 140 million Twitter customers, whereas boosting Twitter’s main income.”
The criticism additionally alleges that Twitter falsely mentioned it complied with the European Union-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privateness Defend Frameworks, which bar firms from utilizing knowledge in ways in which customers don’t authorize.
Twitter’s settlement follows years of fallout over the privateness practices of tech firms.
Revelations in 2018 that Fb, the world’s largest social community, was utilizing cellphone numbers supplied for two-factor authentication to serve advertisements enraged privateness advocates.
Fb, now known as Meta, equally settled with the FTC over the difficulty as a part of a $5 billion settlement reached in 2019.
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